ClappingTree’s Web 2.0

THE BRANDS MOST ENGAGED IN SOCIAL MEDIA are also experiencing higher financial success rates than those of their non-engaged peers, according to a new study released by enterprise wiki provider Wetpaint and the Altimeter Group. ReadWriteWeb reports:

To determine this relationship, the study focused on 100 companies from the 2008 BusinessWeek/Interbrand Best Global Brands survey and the various social media platforms they used like Facebook, Twitter, blogs, wikis, and forums… After examining the companies and their social media activity levels, the brands were ranked on an “engagement scale” where scores ranged from a high of 127 to a low of 1. Those brands that were the most engaged saw their revenue grow over the past year by 18% while the least engaged brands saw losses of negative 6%.

The study grouped the brands into one of four engagement profiles that related to the number of channels they’re involved in and how deep that involvement is. At the top of the list are “mavens,” the brands heavily engaged in seven or more social media channels – like Starbucks and Dell, for instance. “Butterflies” are like wannabe “mavens,” and are also engaged in seven or more channels but are spread too thin, investing in some channels more so than others. “Selectives” focus on six or fewer channels but engage customers deeply in the ones they’ve chosen. Finally, there are “wallflowers,” or brands engaged in six or fewer channels with below-average engagement; these include companies like McDonalds and BP.

DOES ONE NEED TO DO ANYTHING before attending a conference? Chris Brogan listed 27 Things to Do Before a Conference (thanks, Keven). Here’s a compact rewrite of the tasks in terms of the tools involved (Google, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.):

1. Event schedule :

Research - Note what you want to see and get a sense of what you might ask and/or decide what the business value of your interaction at the session might be.

2. Google Blogsearch and Technorati :

Research - Look for event references to the event, company announcements, signs of business opportunity.

3. Google News and Google searches (in addition to 2. above) :

Research – Look for industry news around the event, to understand what might be impacting the people you’re mingling with. Read the rest of this entry »

IN 2008, the growth rates in Internet users among the top 10 emerging markets in the world (China, India, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia, Iran, Poland, and Saudi Arabia) will surpass those of the top 10 developed markets (U.S., Japan, Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Canada, South Korea, and Australia), said Mary Meeker, a technology research analyst from Morgan Stanley at the recent Web 2.0 Summit 08.

In particular, the growth in China is the most impressive, growing by 53% (an addition of 73,000 users) since 2007 and yet its penetration rate is only 16 percent. For the others: